novelraw Chapter 249 : Believe Me, This is a Magical Game
Chapter 249 : Believe Me, This is a Magical Game
Chapter 249: Believe Me, This is a Magical Game
"Studio?"
Luo Wenjie looked puzzled: "Then...the internet cafe side..."
Chen Fan shook his head: "This time you guys can choose for yourselves. If you join the studio, I'll find someone else to be the manager of the internet cafe."
"Of course...there's one thing I have to say upfront."
Chen Fan's gaze became much more serious.
"You two should be clear about cheating software. Currently, the law is still not very complete, but it's absolutely not a legal business..."
"If you two choose to join the studio, you have to understand the risks you'll be facing..."
"Of course, the studio will definitely earn more than working at the internet cafe."
Chen Fan held up three fingers: "The shares of this studio will be divided into three parts, I get four, and you two get three each."
"How about it? Think it over yourselves and give me an answer."
Hearing about getting three-tenths of the shares, Zhou Honghai's eyes lit up.
"I'll join the studio!"
Luo Wenjie thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth, "Can't bear to lose the child and can't catch the wolf, I'll join too."
Chen Fan nodded.
"Then it's settled."
"Next, the task of establishing the studio is up to you two. Old Zhou, you have the technical skills, so you can hire a few technicians and set up the framework for the studio first."
"In the time ahead, you can research all the games available on the market and prepare scripts and cheating software."
"Brother Jie, you have access to stuff like internet brigade and agents, so you'll be in charge of the sales side."
"As for the money we earn from selling cheats, we'll divide it up once a month."
"How about it? Any thoughts from you two?"
Luo Wenjie and Zhou Honghai looked at each other.
"No objections."
"Good. Then let's go with that for now."
Chen Fan thought for a bit, then added: "Starting today, Brother Jie, you can try selling the cheat I gave you."
"Also Old Zhou, I'll give you 20,000 or 30,000 yuan as start-up funds. You'll need to rent a place and hire staff."
Zhou Honghai nodded, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Understood."
Seeing the anxiety and anticipation in their eyes, it was clear they weren't too confident yet in the studio's profit potential.
Only Chen knew that this was 2001, and as long as they kept a low profile and didn't mess around, they could definitely make a huge profit selling cheats over the next few years.
Chen Fan's prediction was quickly proven right.
In the first month, the cheat Chen Fan developed sold over 500 copies, netting over 30,000 yuan in profits.
Luo Wenjie and Zhou Honghai both got nearly 10,000 yuan each.
That was already more than three months' salary for them at the internet cafe.
From then on, the two of them never doubted Chen Fan's vision again.
Luo Wenjie and Zhou Honghai treated Chen Fan to a nice meal to celebrate.
At the dinner, Chen Fan reminded them not to mention the studio to anyone, not even their closest family and friends.
Because what they were doing now was still legally ambiguous.
Luo Wenjie excitedly patted Chen Fan's shoulder.
"Don't worry Brother Fan, I won't even tell my own mother."
Beside him, Zhou Honghai was also beaming, no longer gloomy like before.
He was now earning way more than those technicians at Feifan Technology.
And Chen Fan had said, as long as they maintained their customer base, this business would only grow more profitable.
Zhou Honghai smiled and asked Chen Fan if they could consider developing cheats for other games next.
Chen Fan set down his glass and casually suggested to Zhou Honghai:
"A new online game called 'Legend of Mir' just launched recently. The studio could shift all our focus to researching cheats for this game going forward."
Zhou Honghai paused.
"A newly launched online game? Shouldn't we wait and see how the market responds first before deciding?"
Chen Fan smiled and shook his head.
"No need. This game is definitely going to be a hit."
"How do you know?"
"Intuition." Chen Fan revealed a mysterious smile.
"Believe me, 'Legend of Mir' is a magical game."
Zhou Honghai thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth.
"Okay. Let's do it your way."
Beside him, Luo Wenjie chimed in.
"Brother Fan, I feel like we're selling our cheats too cheap."
"80 yuan each, you really don't know how hot this stuff is. I think even if we raise the price to 150 each, there will still be tons of people buying it."
Chen Fan shook his head: "Don't raise the price. This first cheat is mainly to build trust with users as our studio's product."
"Plus, to be honest, there's not much technical content in this. After a while, there will definitely be other cheats appearing. We may have to lower the price then."
Luo Wenjie's eyes went wide: "Lower the price? Really, there will be other cheats?"
Chen Fan smiled, "No one is a fool. If you're making money selling this, of course others will be eyeing it too."
"So what do we do?"
Chen Fan glanced at Zhou Honghai: "Didn't I just say, we shift our focus and get ahead by developing cheats for 'Legend of Mir'."
"From now on, our studio has to always be one step ahead, we have what others don't, and what we have is superior."
"Got it. As expected from a businessman." Luo Wenjie grinned and gave a thumbs up.
In fact, Zhou Honghai did have some skills. Working with more than a dozen technicians the studio had just hired, they worked day and night for nearly two weeks before finally developing the first cheat for 'Legend of Mir'.
However, the sales weren't very high.
Chen Fan reassured Zhou Honghai, "Don't worry, just wait a bit longer and this game will surprise you."
At the same time, Chen Fan made a small request to Zhou Honghai to include a "Go Navigation Home" link in the compressed cheat package.
For such a small request, Zhou Honghai naturally would not refuse.
Time passed until late October, when Ma Xiaoshuai pulled Chen Fan along to go take their driver's license exams together.
Through his father's connections, Ma Xiaoshuai didn't need to attend driving school and could go straight to the exams.
The two had actually planned to do this over the New Year's holiday, but Chen Fan was too busy and kept postponing until October.
Although they didn't need formal driving school lessons, the two still had to spend a day at the school to familiarize themselves with the test routes and rules.
Compared to the future, the driving tests back then were much simpler.
Plus the two of them were already veteran drivers, so there wasn't much difficulty.
After a quick review of the test routes, Ma Xiaoshuai dragged Chen Fan to sit under a tree and smoke while chatting.
"Hey, look!"
Ma Xiaoshuai's eyes suddenly went wide, as if he'd discovered a new continent, and he shoved Chen Fan's arm.
"Look look! Isn't that...who is that?"
"Who?" Chen Fan was speechless. "Did you see your mom?"
Ma Xiaoshuai excitedly pointed across the way: "That one in the red dress, what's her name again..."
Following Ma Xiaoshuai's pointing, Chen Fan was stunned.
It really was an acquaintance.
Xu Qiuci.
It had been a while since he last ran into her.
The two had been introduced through Mo Siyu back then.
Speaking of Mo Siyu, it had also been some time since he last saw her. He heard she was about to graduate and do an internship, but didn't know what she was up to recently.
"Xu Qiuci..."
Chen Fan murmured her name softly.
"Yeah, that's her," Ma Xiaoshuai clapped.
"To be honest, she was kind of the matchmaker for our dorm."
"If it wasn't for her introducing us, how could brother Jie and I have met our girlfriends from that mixer?"
Hearing this, Chen Fan laughed.
"You're not wrong there."
"We really should thank her properly."
Before Chen Fan could react, Ma Xiaoshuai was already excitedly waving his arms and running over.
"Senior Sister..."